There have also been many releases and can be found on the vinyl Paris Par Excellance (Aux Abattoirs) (Devil’s Disciple Records), which has seven tracks. Compact disc editions include Paris Aux Printemps (TSP-CD-126-2) (with bonus “Cherry Oh Baby”), Exile Aux Abbatoirs (Great Dane 9106), French Made Live In Paris 1976 (Terrapin TR 206/7), Les Abattoirs (ABCD 2731), Les Abattoirs Paris 76 (Speedball Company SBC 002-2), Pavilion De Paris (Sister Morphine Morph 030) and as part of an eight disc set on with all four Paris concerts on Exile A Paris (PGN 122).

Vinyl Gang released it twice, on Vive La France (VGP046) and on French Made 1976 (VGP 258). The last release is by Dog N Cat in 2004 on French Made (Dog N Cat 009). Compared to the Dog N Cat edition, Godfather is much louder and clearer. It has much more life to the tape whereas the DAC is a bit dull.

Godfather does lack the three-minute introduction that was cut most likely to preserve space for the bonus tracks on disc two. Ultimately the June 6 tape is a very good to excellent mono video soundtrack. A lesser sounding tape is used for the final minute of “Star Star.” There is at 2:58 in “Hot Stuff,” a cut after “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and “Street Fighting Man” fades out at the end.

These shows occur right in the middle of their tour of Europe. Whereas the Tour Of The Americas emphasized Ron Wood’s introduction to the band and the songs from It’s Only Rock And Roll, on these dates the mid seventies experimentation on Black And Blue is emphasized. The Stones take a chance and bunch all of the new stuff within the first half hour of the show, potentially alienating their fan base.

Stylistically the band covers much more ground in this set list than on previous tours and their sound is topped off by Mick Jagger’s barking and slurring the words to such an extent that the lyrics are very hard to decipher.

His voice borders on becoming an abrasive instrument onto itself to try to bring the band up to a contemporary “punk” aesthetic.

After the opening “Honky Tonk Women” they play the “If You Can’t Rock Me / Get Off Of My Cloud” medley they introduced the previous year. “Hand Of Fate” from the new album is a true gem of a song with a brutal groove underneath the providential lyrics.

Hey Negrita,” with its syncopated follows followed by the Temptation’s cover “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg.” The two Billy Preston songs, “Nothing From Nothing” and “Outa Space” are a nice diversion, but by this point the Stones were confident enough with Wood to not rely upon him. They are a nice diversion however.

“Midnight Rambler” sounds strange with Preston carrying the tune on the clavinet at the beginning. the same can be said for “Brown Sugar” which has a different kind of swagger than on previous tours with his contribution. Wood plays a very fast guitar solo in this song which many thought was overdubbed for Love You Live, but the raw soundtrack reveals otherwise.

The bonus tracks are an excellent addition and present a version of very song played during the year. “Cherry Oh Baby” from Black And Blue was played only in the June 7 Paris concert and is sourced from an excellent soundboard recording. “All Down The Line” played only at the first two shows of the tour in Frankfurt, and this version comes from the second. This comes from the second show.

“Sympathy For The Devil” was played as an encore at four of the six Earl’s Court shows in May and Godfather chose an audience recording from May 23. This is the only audience sourced used in this collection and the sound quality is merely fair, but gives an idea of how the track sounded. The final ten songs come from a video soundtrack from the Stones’ appearance at the 1976 Knebworth festival. They wanted to stretch out a bit and they delivered perhaps their longest ever concert.

Most of songs were all heavily featured in previous tours but are all rarities in 1976. Curiously two of them, “Little Red Rooster” and “Round And Round,” would be recored in March 1977 in Toronto for inclusion on Love You Live. The final track “Country Tonk” is merely thirty-five seconds of Jagger singing the first lines and asking anybody if they remember it.

Godfather packages this title in a tri-fold cardboard gatefold sleeve with many photos from the Paris concerts. Also included is a four-page insert and a miniature reproduction of the tour poster with an itinerary on the back. The label has the wrong date, labeling this June 4th instead of June 6th. Although the Paris tape has seen numerous releases, the improved sound quality, the packaging and the generous helping of bonus material makes Tour Of Europe ’76 Revisited stand out from the others.

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8 comments

…And I’m still confused by the titles purporting to come from the two shows dated June 6th and June 4th: I have Alright Chalrie Watts representing the 4th and Paris Aux Printemps representing the 6th but I swear there are a number of markers on those two titles indicating they’re from the same show, or at least partially so. Listen to the band intros on both for example. I’ve brought this up before both on here and the Stones board IORR but no one else has weighed in. I guess what I need to do is check out a different version of the June 4th show and see if it matches w/ Alright Charlie. Anyway….

This June 6th show is (IMO) the least good of the 4 Paris shows, performancewise. It is quite dull. People who aren’t “completist” are better of with EX SBD rec (or EX AUD rec) of the last of the Paris shows (June 7th). After that….the VG AUD rec of the June 4th show is worth seeking out.

It’s clearly a matter of personal taste, bim, and while I agree about the Taylor years (I have every circulating live show from those years-NERD!), I can find plenty to enjoy about the Wood years, especially the early ones. So, to ask how anyone could enjoy “flat and complacent” shows is to assume everyone else shares your opinion. I listen to L.A. 7/9/75, for example, and am blown away by the energy and the performance in general. I also enjoy the ’76 tour for it’s sleazy funkiness-Hot Stuff, Hey Negrita, the Preston numbers, etc. I also really like Keith and Ron’s guitar sounds on this tour. Last tour using the Ampegs, I believe?

as a live band the stones went into decline after mick taylor left. i witnessed 2 earls court and the knebworth performance. notwithstanding the sound quality, how could anyone enjoy such flat and complacent shows for pleasure. ron wood wasn’t up to the job
my recommendation is to the classic (69-73) stones performances, theres a lot of them available a number in excellent sound quality-forget this stuff!!!

“Paris aux Printemp”(TSP-CD-126-2) on the Swing’n Pig Label is an excellent soundboard of the complete show from June 6, 1976 plus an audience bonus track of Cherry oh Baby from the next day’s concert, and “Live in Frankfurt” (VT-CD 10)from Vigotone while incomplete, is an excellent soundboard of an energetic performance.

I consider both these titles “must have” for a stones ’76 collection.

Please keep in mind that both titles are long out of print but if you can get a copy or a download these shows are very enjoyable.

Moreover , the June 6 show is also available on DVD. The complete show can be found on”Love You Live” from D-Stone. However, the best video release of the French broadcasts of these shows (imho),and while not a complete concert is “Black and Blue in Paris” (AS134) on The Apocalypse Sound label.
This title presents tracks from Paris on June 4,6 &7. Both picture and sound are fantastic. Both of these titles are a couple of years old so you may have a better chance obtaining the original DVDs.